a little problem.

Playing/Techniques
#1

hi guys!

been sort of semi inactive in the community for a while!
so lately i have been trying out the tsugaru shamisen that i bought from catherine. wich i still totally love, but i have come upon a bit of a problem. so for a while i have been experiencing an unwanted buzz on the ni and san no ito. i finally figured out that it was because the ichi also vibrates when i strike the other two strings so i lowered the azuma sawari. this helped, but now the sawari doesn’t sound right. what can i do?

#2

It supposed to do that. Basically tune the sawari so that you get the longest resonance on the 1 / a nice resonance on all strings.

Perhaps post a sample and we can tell you if its doing it properly or not?

#3

Hi Mark!
good to hear from you here on bachido.
Do you mean that the ni and son no ito create the sawari to buzz as well? Sort of like a sympathetic resonance or do you mean the strings are buzzing on the sao/neck from being too low an action?

I think you mean that it is the resonance thing but just want to make sure. I agree that all the strings naturally create a buzz when all is in tune. In fact I’ll often tune the ni and san no ito by listening to the buzz itself.
Cheers! Good the hear that you are loving the shamisen and I assume playing as well!

#4

NO it’s the resonance thing.

#5

thought so. yeah, it’s just the nature of the beast! :slight_smile:
what can be interesting is to pay attention to this resonance on different strings. for instance perhaps playing higher on the ni no ito and letting the san no ito resonate that octive higher than the first string. and also when we play that 1st string the buzz goes off it but we can utilise it with resonance on the other strings. and also pressing a string on certain frequencies can create interesting and unique buzz resonances.
fun times! :slight_smile:

#6

Buzz is good. Embrace the buzz.

© 2020 Kyle Abbott